Cleveland--It is nearly certain
that the 2014 Gay Games will be held in
Cleveland and Akron as planned. It is
not certain who the Federation of Gay
Games will license to put them on.

�We don�t know who will get the license,�
said Valarie McCall, Cleveland�s chief
of government affairs. �All the partners
are still at the table, except for Synergy.�

The Federation of Gay Games terminated
the license agreement it had with the
Cleveland Synergy Foundation on July 6.

The site cities of Cleveland and Akron
have no written contract with FGG. The
site selection is part of the license
agreement.

McCall said FGG notified Cleveland that
Synergy�s license was revoked, but she
has not seen the termination notice.

�FGG wanted to know if Cleveland still
wanted to host the Games,� McCall said.
�Of course the answer was yes.�

Synergy�s partners in the license arrangement
are the cities of Cleveland and Akron,
Positively Cleveland, the Akron-Summit
Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the
Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

Those partners have FGG�s commitment
that the Games will be held in their communities
and that a new licensee will be found.

On July 23, FGG issued a statement that,
though not iron-clad, is a near certain
commitment to the Cleveland and Akron
area. It reads:

�The FGG, cooperating with its Cleveland
partners, continues to work hard to ensure
that planning for the 2014 Cleveland Gay
Games progresses at a satisfactory pace.
All parties continue to meet to ensure
a smooth path forward to a successful
2014 Gay Games and we appreciate patience
as these sensitive discussions take place.�

This follows their earlier statement:
�We can say: �We look forward to coming
to Cleveland-Akron for Gay Games IX in
2014.� �

Delegation
goes to Cologne

A delegation of the partners is going
to Cologne, Germany on July 30 for
the ceremonial transfer of the Gay Games
flag from Cologne to Cleveland, to learn
more about how the Games work, and to
promote Cleveland and Akron.

�We�re going to Cologne to see what needs
to be done,� McCall said. She was also
part of the delegation that went to Cologne
in October when the Games were awarded.

The new delegation is McCall and Cleveland�s
executive for small business development
Kevin Schmotzer, Greater Cleveland Sports
Commission president David Gilbert and
vice president of event management Meredith
Scerba.

Also going are Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame president Terry Stewart, Positively
Cleveland board vice president Jon J.
Pinney, Convention and Visitors vice president
Sharon Gronowski, and from the Akron Summit
CVB, president Susan Hamo and vice president
of sales Dirk Breiding.

Breiding and Schmotzer are openly gay.

Joining the official delegation are Marcus
Pender, Joy LaFrance and Anthony DiMarco
of Equal Assurance Holdings, which is
a prospective major corporate sponsor
of the 2014 Gay Games.

Travel for McCall, Schmotzer and the
Sports Commission representatives will
be paid for from the $700,000 the city
authorized to cover the costs of bringing
the event to Cleveland.

Positively Cleveland, Akron Summit CVB
and the Rock Hall are paying for their
representatives to go.

Synergy will not be going, and its activities
continue to be a mystery.

Is Frivolity
still on?

It is not known whether or not the Frivolity
event scheduled for August 20 at
the Rock Hall and the Great Lakes Science
Center will occur or who it will benefit
if it does.

Frivolity, which was heavily promoted
at Cleveland Pride, was to benefit Synergy
and promote the 2014 event. It was the
second such event under that name. The
first Frivolity, last year, drew more
than 7,000 people.

Synergy has not officially cancelled
the event, nor will they confirm its status
to the press, its partner Positively Cleveland,
or the venues.

�Right now I have it on hold,� said Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame vice president of
marketing Todd Mesek. �If we have an event,
we�ll be ready.�

The Great Lakes Science Center did not
return the Chronicle�s calls or
emails.

Mesek said he has not been told whether
Frivolity will happen or not, but he remains
flexible. He added that the Rock Hall
can accommodate last-minute events.

Synergy founder and spokesperson Jeff
Axberg has not responded to numerous email
and phone requests on this matter.

Council members
kept in the dark

Members of the Synergy Foundation Council,
an advisory committee, have not been told
the status of Frivolity, nor that Synergy�s
license to hold the Games has been revoked.

Council members sign a confidentiality
agreement, but two have talked to a reporter.

Akron Stonewall Democrats president Chip
Clupper, who has only been on the council
a few weeks, said he�s considering resigning,
and hasn�t been there long enough to know
anything.

Positively Cleveland�s Gronowski received
a letter from Synergy July 23 notifying
her that she is being excluded from the
council. According to Positively Cleveland
president Dennis Roche, the letter tells
Gronowski she is �no longer suitable�
to be on the council. So, her confidentiality
agreement no longer applies.

Through Roche, Gronowski said Synergy
never told members of the council about
the license revocation, nor has it said
anything about Frivolity.

Clupper said Frivolity is �on my calendar�
but he doesn�t know whether it will happen.
Clupper was also not told about the license
by Synergy.

The Chronicle has obtained a copy
of an email sent to council members
by colleague Sheila Patterson calling
press reports about Synergy �erroneous.�
Patterson did not respond for comment
for this report.

Roche has also not been told about Frivolity,
even though Positively Cleveland is listed
as an event partner.

�At this stage, we don�t know if it is
on or off,� Roche said.

Sports Commission
may host Games

Positively Cleveland and the Sports Commission
announced July 26 that they are forming
a joint partnership and will start to
act more as a single entity.

Informed speculation and conventional
wisdom is increasingly lining up around
the Sports Commission eventually being
awarded the license to hold the 2014 Games.

Roche said the agreement, which was in
the works before the Gay Games, would
allow the Sports Commission to leverage
more resources toward it. Positively Cleveland
is a much larger organization with a bigger
staff and budget.

FGG spokesperson Kelley Stevens said
non-LGBT organizations can be licensed
to hold Gay Games, and that it has been
done before.

Blogs were
not the cause of problems

Other documents obtained by the Chronicle
and interviews with sources close to events
show that bloggers in Washington, D.C.
and Boston were not the genesis of Synergy�s
problems with FGG. They just reacted to
it.

This is contrary to the narrative being
advanced by Cleveland Ward 3 Councilor
Joe Cimperman.

Cimperman, who sponsored the ordinance
appropriating the $700,000 and who traveled
to Cologne in the fall, told WKSU 89.7 FM
reporter Vivian Goodman on July 22,
�Look at where the initial blogs came
from. This conversation started about
a week and a half ago in Boston and Washington.
Why is that? If I�m in those cities, the
answer to that question is, if Cleveland
doesn�t get it, we might.�

People in the two competing cities are
bitter that Cleveland beat them for the
Games last year, and media in both cities
have reported alleged foul play by Synergy.

However, the blogging only started because
people in those cities were tipped �as
a courtesy� by an FGG official when the
license was pulled from Synergy on July 6.
The bloggers may have known before Cleveland
did. Their subsequent allegations had
nothing to do with FGG�s decision.

It appears that Synergy lost the license
due to financial and reporting irregularities
and over poor relationships and conflicts
with FGG and partners.

FGG�s statement concludes by saying that
discussions will be held in Cologne concerning
the 2014 license and that a decision will
be announced �later in August.�

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